NSA Recreates Bridge of the Starship Enterprise

So, along with spying on us, invading our digital lives, and generally eroding our civil liberties, it turns out that the head of the NSA is also a big Star Trek fan. Director of the National Security Agency Keith Alexander apparently has a data-processing information center in Fort Belvoir, Virginia that is modeled to look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

According to an article in Foreign Policy, sources say that the command center "comes complete with chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall, and doors that made a 'whoosh' sound when they slid open and closed." There's even a captain's chair. According to an officer who helped to coordinate a visit by officials and lawmakers, "Everybody wanted to sit in the chair at least once to pretend he was Jean-Luc Picard." Wait, what? They wanted to be Picard and not Captain Kirk? Oh, right. That makes sense.